Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

Genre: Fiction, Romance

Rating: ★★★

Pages: 222

Published: 1989/1993

Publisher: Black Swan

I picked up Like Water for Chocolate at a fantastic English-language bookstore in Sofia called the Elephant Bookstore. It was recommended by one of the girls in my group, so I decided to get it in order to counteract all of the Yugoslavia nonfiction I had with me. 

Like Water for Chocolate is about a young woman, Tita, living in revolutionary Mexico. Tita, as the youngest daughter of the De La Garza family, has her fate decided for her: she is forbidden to marry by family tradition, and must instead care for her mother until she dies. When Pedro, Tita's sweetheart, asks for her hand, he is swiftly rebuffed by Tita's mother and redirected towards her sister, Rosaura. Pedro agrees to marry Rosaura, if only because that will allow him to remain by Tita's side. Over the course of the next 22 years, the two circle each other in "unconsummated passion" (according to the back description) that inspires passion in the lives of those around them. Each chapter also begins with the name of a dish and the ingredients for said dish. During the following chapter, the food is somehow woven into the narrative. 

Like Water for Chocolate reads like a folktale, and so there are some extreme exaggerations regarding activity and imagery (ex: losing 65 pounds in a week, having a blanket that covers an entire ranch, etc.). Because this was my first "magical realism" book (and magical realism utilizes hyperbole and mythology), it was definitely something I had to get used to — I took a few hyperboles quite literally and was left going "what?" a few times in the beginning of the novel. 

Continuing on the "magical narrative" trend, the food that Tita cooks assumes a large role in conveying Tita's emotions to others and influencing events in the book. While Tita doesn't often show her true emotions to others (such as anger, lust), other characters pick up on her feelings through her cooking, although their sudden emotional outbursts confuse them. 

I think I was more into the first half of the book, but lost steam afterwards. I guess I just had a harder time sympathizing with Pedro and Tito? I didn't really care for Pedro, and thought that Tita could have done better than him. Like Water was also a little unusual in that the tone would go from being very clinical and detached to being super technical and "whatever" about sex and lust. The book was described as containing "unbridled passion," and I guess my takeaway is that I don't really go for that. (One review on the inside described the ideal reader as one who likes their wine "full-bodied" and their food "zesty." I don't really fall into either category.)

I ended up finishing this book faster than I thought I would; it's very accessible, and — due to its monthly format — felt unimposing and gave me a good sense of how far along I was in the story. While it is somewhat unfortunate that the romance plot fell a little flat for me, there were other comedic parts of the book that I really liked, and one character in particular — Gertrudis — that was by far my favorite. I recommend it to anyone who likes cooking or is interesting in magical realism novels.

(Oh, yes — and """passion""")

Safe Area Gorazde, by Joe Sacco

My cover looked cooler, but this is the best image I could find.

Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir

Rating: ★★★★

Pages: 229

Published: 2007

Publisher: Jonathan Cape

This rating has a trigger warning for blood/gore imagery, war mentions, and the like.

Hello again, peaches! I'd apologize for the radio silence, but I'm really not that sorry about it. Study abroad has been pretty neat so far, and this past month I spent my Spring Break on (as one guy in my group put it) a "tour of the Ottoman Empire." 6 countries (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Turkey) in 10 days. My takeaway? The Balkans are beautiful and awesome and I wanna go back like nothing else. (As my friend, E., "I could make a life here!")

Because I'm me, and I was surrounded by enabling poli-sci majors, I found time during my trip to go to a few bookstores and picked up some """relevant reading.""" (Book haul post to come later. If I remember.) One of the books I got in Bosnia was Safe Area Gorazde ("Gorazde" pronounced like "gor-AJ-da"). I picked it up after visiting the Gallery 11/07/95, which is a permanent gallery about the Srebrenica massacre (or genocide, depending on who you're talking to). 

Real talk: the Gallery is super depressing and kind of awful, but in a good way? It was very informative and powerful, and definitely impacted my stay in Sarajevo. It was kind of surreal walking around the Balkans and examining the scars that the war left on both buildings and people. 

Building in Belgrade, Serbia.

Inside the Gallery

 

  

The building next to my hostel in Sarajevo.

(But this review is about Joe Sacco's time in Bosnia, not mine.)

Safe Area Gorazde details the time that journalist Joe Sacco spent in Gorazde, Bosnia, from 1994-1995. The book's material is largely based off of his interviews with Bosnian Muslims in the Muslim "enclave" of Gorazde, but also includes historical information and Sacco's opinion on the war. Safe Area Gorazde is meant as a memoir, but delivers Sacco's own brand of self-reflection and political observations. 

I was kinda familiar with Sacco's art before reading Safe Area Gorazde, and had some prior knowledge about the Balkan War. Gorazde was mentioned briefly in the Srebrenica exhibit as a UN Safe Area, but wasn't really elaborated on. My interest was piqued, then, when I saw Sacco's book in Sarajevo (it was one of the titles consistently available in English throughout the city) and I decided to purchase it. I didn't recall seeing Sacco's work in many stores previously, so I thought it would be a worthwhile buy. 

I enjoyed reading Safe Area Gorazde for its writing and art, and was appreciative of how Sacco established the book as his personal narrative during a portion of the conflict, as opposed to a definitive telling of the entire war. Sacco wrote about the privilege he enjoyed during the war (such as being able to travel relatively freely whereas people from Gorazde were stuck in the city). National privilege is an uncomfortable thing to admit when traveling, and I sometimes think that some writers, despite operating outside of the host society as foreigners, tend to over-identify with their subjects to the point where they believe they face the same challenges and restrictions as them.

Page from Safe Area Gorazde detailing the 1994 offensive. Copyright Joe Sacco.

Panels from Safe Area Gorazde. Copyright Joe Sacco.

I would absolutely recommend Safe Area Gorazde to anyone interested in learning about the Balkans War, the intersection of nationality and ethnicity, modern nation-building, and how international government organizations operate. It's a powerful book, a compelling memoir that Sacco shares with other individuals about a dark period in European/world history. Although dark and depressing, the story that Sacco tells does not stand for willful ignorance. 

My Wishlist, Myself (pt.1)

Despite my current study abroad status and the fact that I should probably be saving my money for travel and food and other """basic necessities,""" I've been lusting over potential books to buy for my Kindle. I thought I'd share my top "wanna buys" here in an attempt to distract me from actually buying them. (This is also part one of I don't know how many because I am a greedy little hamster.)

(so, in no particular order:)

1. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee —Dee Brown
For a girl who loves history and who studies the intersection of identity and politics, I am super uninformed about Native American history. I don't know what else to say about this book, other than that it seems like a good place to start learning.

2. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The first time I saw this book (probably in elementary school), I thought that this was a World War I or II book that featured rabbits on the cover; needless to say, I wasn't very impressed with it then and was a little confused a few years ago when I found out that Watership Down was being marketed as a famous fantasy book. About rabbits. Rabbits? What the hell would that even look like? I wondered. I read the intro when I was thinking about getting it with some of my Christmas $$$, which actually made me more interested, but ultimately decided that I'd rather have it in paperback as opposed to my Kindle. (It has a map in the front.)

3. Understanding Comics — Scott McCloud
I was about thisclose to buying Understanding Comics earlier this week, and the only reason that there isn't a copy sitting and waiting for me on my bed right now is that my internet crapped out on me as I was in the middle of pressing the "add to cart" button.

Understanding Comics is one of those books that, if you're interested in comics (like me!) and art (also like me!), you can't really escape. It's cited by artists and writers (and non-artists and non-writers) as a super important piece of writing and analysis about comic books and comic techniques. Since I'm trying to "broaden my horizons" as a person or whatever, I figured that I should finally, finally read this book. This book isn't available on Kindle right now, but I figured that since I would probably get a lot out of it, I could live with having a physical copy of it on my bookshelf. (I know; my life is just so hard.)

4. The Arabs: A History —Eugene Rogan
So, I'm an International Relations major (in case you didn't know) with a focus on the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Despite my junior standing, I always feel like I should know way more about the region than I do. I have a running list of "MENA books" that has a little over seventy titles on it that I've been meaning to read. I'm sometimes a little wary of books that proclaim to be histories of an entire ethnic group or society, but one of my professors last semester (whom I loved) recommended it, so I decided that this might be a good place to start some of my extracurricular reading.

5. My Uncle Napoleon — Iraj Pezehkzad
This is another book I found at my school library (seriously, bless you Beloit...), and I was first drawn to it because of its rad cover art. When I perused the back cover, my interest was totally piqued. My Uncle Napoleon is a hugely successful book in Iran, and even inspired a (super popular) television series. Napoleon is about a young man who lives with his extended family, the patriarch of which is his uncle, Napoleon. The narrator opens the novel by despairing over falling in love with his cousin, Napoleon's favorite daughter. Napoleon is an extended family drama that delves into post-colonial psychology as frequently as family conflict. I alllllllmost bought this book last semester, but demurred because I thought I was going to get it for Christmas. (spoiler: I didn't.)


I'm in the middle of a pretty serious nonfiction kick right now, so let me know if y'all are reading anything similar or what. I love love love love love book lists and book recs, so leave a comment down below!

Currently Reading

Is anyone else guilty of reading multiple books and sometimes.... forgetting one or two of them?

(Because this is the internet, and we're only human, I'm going to assume "yes.")

I'm technically reading like six books now — although, if I'm being totally honest, I haven't picked some of them up in almost a year. I keep them on my list, though, because it A) makes me feel a little less guilty about abandoning them and B) reminds me that I'm meaning to read it/like it enough to keep reading it. I figured that I'd write about my "currently reading" books here because it might compel someone else to read them while I continue ignoring them.

(so, in no particular order....)

1. Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? — Michael J. Sandel
This book was assigned reading for my legal studies class last year, and I'm probably... halfway through it? Maybe a little less. I can't bring myself to abandon it because I don't see any reason why I should — it isn't hard, I didn't hate it, I just... wasn't required to finish it for class. This book is more philosophical than any of the other books on this list, but manages to apply theories (pertaining to equality, justice, etc.) by putting them in real-world context.

2. A Tale for the Time Being — Ruth Ozeki
A Tale for the Time Being was a "new addition" at my college's library last spring, and because I had seen it popping up a lot on the internet, I decided to pick it up for fun. I got about halfway through with it before the school year ended and I had to return it, but I liked it a lot and I definitely intend on finishing it the first chance I get. (Also, the cover art is, imo, gorgeous.)

3. Imperial Life in the Emerald City — Rajiv Chandrasekaran
I picked this book up last semester from the library because I was bored with my classes and wanted to read something that I could relate to my coursework while still...not being my coursework.

Since then, I've probably recommended Imperial Life to three people since I started reading it. I probably would have finished this book, but I let a friend borrow it because he had to write a paper about Iraq and — ugh. It got away from me. I'm going to pick up a paperback copy of this when I get home as opposed to reading it on my Kindle. Imperial Life is a book I like being able to flip back and forth through in order to refer to the index or earlier chapters. (I started making a reference sheet of characters for my personal use, but I lost that. :/) I'd definitely recommend this book if you're interested in American foreign policy — specifically in the Middle East, Iraq, or in the George W. Bush era. Chandrasekaran is a journalist, and also a really clear and concise writer. I think he does a really good job at explaining things in this book so that you don't need to have an intimate knowledge of Iraq to understand what's going on.

4. A People's History of the United States — Howard Zinn
OK, so I'm ACTIVELY READING this book. While it's been neglected a little bit since I've arrived in Jordan, I wouldn't say that it's been abandoned. The only problem that I have with this book is that it's so long and so dense that I can tell it's going to take me forever to finish it. I'm really enjoying it so far though, and I'd recommend picking it up for a more comprehensive understanding of American history. I can understand why so many people enjoyed it/recommend it. I've also gotten compliments on it, which hasn't happened to my reading list, like... ever. (This is the one book I brought to Jordan with me (besides my Kindle), and I think it was a good move on my part.)

5. The Secret History — Donna Tartt.
I started reading this book on the recommendation of one of my good friends, G., who, when telling me about it, got so excited that she started yelling. It was then that I figured I should read it for myself and see why so many people seemed to be nuts for this book. I'll admit that it took me a while to get into it (some of the characters really annoyed me in the beginning, and it took me a while to get used to the writing style), but by the time I left for Jordan I was totally hooked. I decided not to bring it with me because I figured, since I only had maybe 100 pages left, I couldn't really justify bringing it along with me on the plane because, if I finished it, I didn't want it to be a dead weight. I'm hoping that it won't be too hard for me to pick back up when I get home.

6. Abarat #1 — Clive Barker
I got the second Abarat book a little over ten years ago for Christmas. It's been with me for maybe three moves, and I finally decided that if I was ever going to read it, I should maybe start with the first book in the series. I had to drop Abarat for the usual reasons (going to school, leaving home & not wanting extra baggage, etc.), but think that if I had maybe gotten it a week earlier than I had, I would be finished with it. It's a fast, easy read, and I think that it's a really interesting concept. Asides from my forays into Discworld and Percy Jackson, it's the first fantasy I've read in a long while.



Is there anything you've been reading but putting off? Any books you've accidentally abandoned?

Kindle Reads: A Once Crowded Sky, by Tom King

Genre: Fiction

Rating: ★ ★ ★

Pages: 336

Published: 2012

Publisher: Touchstone

A Once Crowded Sky is the sort of thing that I adore — superhero meta. I've spent hours on Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, whatever, reading introspective fic about superheroes and how they operate within their own world. You can probably imagine how pumped I was to see this book — like, how could I not read this? 

A Once Crowded Sky takes place in a world where superheroes used to roam the earth. You read me right — "used to." The superhero community is left reeling after a disaster (you know the kind, one where the world is about to end and the world's heroes must team up to save the planet from certain destruction) not only ends the life of perhaps the most powerful superhero alive — Ultimate, the Man with the Metal Face — but also with all superheroes losing their superpowers. Permanently. For a group of people whose lives are essentially "cycles of violence" (periods of peace interrupted by periods of war/fighting, rinse and repeat), and never really experience change for long (one character remarks that his wife and daughter have died five times but have always come back), the idea of permanent power loss is beyond destabilizing and debilitating. 

King uses this formula to explore the idea of what makes a hero when death is a nonissue — when you and everyone you love always come back. I mean, if you can be sure that despite whatever evil you might face you'll make it out alright, what are you really risking? King also examines the possible psychological effects of living such a life. (His conclusion is mixed, I think.)

A Once Crowded Sky was definitely a fast read for me. I liked how each character's "voice" came through in their respective chapters and in the broader narrative. (I'm such a sucker for that.) As a writer, King has a firm hold on who his characters are, through and through. He's also obviously versed in superhero lingo. Despite the fact that he builds this superhero universe from scratch, it all sounds plausible — like, I wouldn't be surprised to see comics about these people. Sky doesn't sound like some kind of superhero parody, which I appreciated. 

Via.

I did have a few issues with Sky, however — namely with the female characters and how they were handled. I feel like they were largely one-dimensional; they were frequently described through their relationships with various male characters and were (outside of the wife of the protagonist) infrequently mentioned.

I think that King tried to tackle the issue of "fridging" in comics and how a rational person should react to it ("My wife/SO is dead and that is NOT OKAY and that does NOT motivate me as a superhero but is instead AWFUL for both me and her), but its delivery was kiiiiiiinda weak in that I didn't feel like I had a good understanding of Anna's character. (Anna being the main character's wife.) I am, however, REALLY GLAD that he addressed this issue and called it out on its bullshit.

My final issue was with another female character, Mashallah. I know that her relationship with her religion was supposed to be complicated thanks to her superhero past and previous relationships, but I didn't really see her talking about it in depth or actively working through it. It was more often referenced as an issue or a roadblock for other characters to overcome. (But yo, I am happy that King included a Muslim hijabi superheroine.) Kind of a missed opportunity to really explore a potentially interesting character. 

So. Besides these issues, I did like the A Once Crowded Sky. Each "part" included pages of comic art that provided backstory/character analysis, which was awesome. I'm interested in checking out similar books (because seriously, superhero meta is my crack) and King's other work. I would personally recommend this book to anyone who likes superheroes/comics or likes to dabble in superhero meta themselves.

(If you know of any similar books, PLEASE let me know in the comments.)

Kindle Reads: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★       

Published: 2001/2011 (Author's Preferred Text reissue)

Publisher: HarperCollins

As a breathing life form who has spent a lot of time on the internet (and Tumblr), I've been aware of Neil Gaiman's American Gods for quite a few years now. It's always been a book that I've meant to read, but haven't. I'm pretty sure that I even bought it a few years ago but donated it because it just didn't seem like (at the time) I'd ever get to it. (Obviously I have.) American Gods is frequently cited as one of Neil Gaiman's best works — it's won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (both are for science fiction/fantasy), and there's plenty of fanart, fanfiction, etc., on the 'net. 

The edition of American Gods that I read was (I think) the tenth anniversary "Author's Preferred Text," which is longhand for "Director's Cut." If there's an "author's preferred anything," there's a good chance that I'll do my best to read it, despite the fact that it (like American Gods) might be loaded down with approximately 12,000 "extra" words. 

So, a summary: American Gods opens on a man named Shadow, who is coming to the end of a prison sentence for robbery (I couldn't really figure out if it was armed or not). Three days before the end of his trial, Shadow is told that his wife has died in a car accident, and that he has been allowed to leave prison early. It is on the plane ride back home that he meets a man who introduces himself as Mr. Wednesday, and offers Shadow a job — Shadow will act as his errand boy/bodyguard while Mr. Wednesday tours the country visiting his colleagues and associates. Shadow eventually learns that these "associates" are in fact gods, brought over to America by past immigrants. These gods' strength has been sapped over the past years (decades)  by changing American beliefs, and have begun to be supplanted by "new" gods — gods of technology, media, oil, etc. Mr. Wednesday's goal is to assemble a group of old gods to fight the new — and to assert the old gods' place in America. 

I think that the premise behind American Gods is super interesting, and (of course) put my little fandom brain at work, wondering how various gods would operate in contemporary American society. However, I was ultimately....underwhelmed by this book. Which, to be honest, I didn't really expect to happen. 

I'm not sure what it is about American Gods that underwhelmed me. I think part of it was because I felt like I had a hard time connecting to the protagonist, Shadow, and understanding his character or motivation. For a while I had a hard time knowing what his motivation even was. While he did go through a Mandatory Protagonist Transformation during the story, it still felt kinda..."meh" to me. I was more interested in reading about other characters, or the one-shot "Coming to America" chapters, where Gaiman told the story of an individual (or group of individuals) who brought their beliefs into America. I wish there were more of those chapters, because I think that they could have been utilized to show how American values and belief systems changed over time. 

I also wish that the "new gods" had more of a backstory. Like, what was their "coming to America" experience? They seemed to be more indigenous to the land and were more...theoretical than earlier gods (like gods of "the media," neon, the internet, etc.). I think that out of the new gods, the TV and IT gods were the most compelling because I was able to see examples of their literal operations (like possessing Lucille Ball on-screen). I do wish, however, that Gaiman had elaborated more on their worldview, or at least how they perceived humans. Did they like them? Hate them? Were they indifferent?

I think another reason that I felt so underwhelmed by American Gods was because there was soooo much hype about it on the internet. Given how hugely popular it is, and how aware I was of its popularity when I started reading it, I guess I had some really high expectations that just couldn't be met. Despite these issues, giving this book less than three stars didn't feel "right" to me because there were sections that really grabbed my attention (the murder-mystery subplot, mostly) (spoilers?), and the idea behind this book is really cool and unique.

I think one of the reasons that I felt so....underwhelmed? by American Gods was because it had been so. hyped. up. to me that I guess there wasn't really any way that the book could've lived up to my expectations (whatever they were). Giving this book less than three stars didn't feel "right" to me because there were sections that really grabbed my attention (the murder-mystery subplot, mostly) (spoilers?), and the idea behind this book is really cool and unique. I'm not sure who I would or could recommend this book to; it seems like everyone and their aunt on the Internet has already read it, so to those who haven't....give it a shot? Hopefully this review was balanced enough that you can still form your own opinion. 

I really liked how Gaiman incorporated gods into American fabric, and how he used the American Midwest as a setting for a lot of the novel. I feel like a lot of writers imagine "America" as New York City, or the American Southwest or California (not that those places aren't America too), so it was nice to see states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri and Kansas represented. 

I could see myself reading this book sometime in the future, since it's just so long and I want to be sure that I understand it was well as I can. I'm still a little confused about Shadow's future — not to mention the crime that landed him in prison before the book even started. Who is Shadow? What is Shadow? I still don't totally understand.

So, yeah, while I really liked a lot of the side characters, the novel's premise, and a lot of the imagery of the book, (as well as the Lakeside subplot) I feel like my inability to understand or connect with Shadow made it harder for me to like this book.  I'm not sure who I would or could recommend this book to; it seems like everyone and their aunt on the Internet has already read it, so to those who haven't....give it a shot? Hopefully this review was balanced enough that you can still form your own opinion. 

2014 in review, goals for 2015

2014 was a pretty crazy year for me. I spent the first half stressed out and moody and the second half... stressed out (sometimes), but also totally elated and joyful. A lot of great things have happened to me in the past few months, and if I play my cards right, then some great things will hopefully come my way in 2015. (It still doesn't feel like 2015. it probably won't until November or something.)

Book wise, 2014 was also pretty cool for me. I got my first "official" review book, Not My Father's Son, and finally read some books that I've either been meaning to finish for years or have been looking for for what seemed like years. I also utilized my Kindle to a much greater extent this past year than I have before due to being abroad, and I have a few gems on it right now that I'm looking forward to this upcoming semester. I was ALSO able to complete my 2014 reading challenge! Considering I was abroad for about four months, I'm kinda surprised that I was able to finish.

SO. My favorite reads of 2014 (in no particular order) were Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde; The Gardner Heist, by Ulrich Boser; The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts; The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams; and Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

This year I have a few goals for myself. Not too many, since I'll be going abroad again in about a week and a half, and that doesn't leave me (what I think is) enough time to get a significant start on my reading goal AND prepare for the semester AND work on art AND see my friends and family before I leave. So, yeah, reading will probably go to the wayside for the next few months — but I'm ok with that.

(Anyways. 2015 goals.)

1. To read 15 books before January 1, 2016.
2. To read 5 (or more!) nonfiction books. 
3. To read 5 books that I have owned for at LEAST one year prior to January 1, 2015. 
4. To either buy books on the Kindle store, or borrow them from the library. I would like to avoid buying physical books whenever possible.
5. To be more prompt with my book reviews. (There are only... five? six? from 2014 that I haven't finished. Urgh.)  

So, there y'all have it. Do you have any goals for 2015? Does any book from 2014 stick out to you in particular? Let me know in the comments. And as always, I'm taking recommendations. 

Happy 2015, dudes. Let's make this the best one yet! (David Bowie thinks it'll be pretty neat, too.)